Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) urged Lagos residents around Ijora Badia, where Oando Tank Farm is located, to remain calm as efforts are being made to put the fire which occurred at the facility under control.

LASEMA Director-General, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said in a statement that a combined response team, made up of public and private stakeholders, had successfully localised the fire and prevented it from spreading to other sites.

He said the tank farm, which has a storing capacity of 7.5 million litres, caught fire at about 12:20 p.m. on Thursday.

He said it was currently burning off in a controlled manner following the activation of the state’s emergency response plan.

“All appropriate measures to combat the flames and prevent secondary incidents have been taken.

“Though the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, all relevant stakeholders from the Federal Fire Service, LASG Fire Service, Nigerian Navy Fire Fighters, UBA Fire Service, Forte Oil Fire Service and Officers of the Nigerian Police Force are working assiduously to curtail the fire from escalating to other tanks in the depot,” he said.

Oke-Osanyintolu noted that so far there has been no loss of life or injury resulting from the fire outbreak.

The National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency (NOSDRA) has assured the general public that all about the tank farm which caught fire in Lagos on Thursday was under control.

The agency’s Director-General, Idris Musa, gave the assurance at a media briefing in Abuja on Friday.

Fire on Thursday gutted a tank farm at the Oando Depot on Gaskiya Road, Ijora Badia area of Lagos State.

Musa confirmed that the tank farm which contained Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) belonging to OVH, a downstream sector of Oando, caught fire on Thursday in Lagos.

Musa said the Oil Producers Trade Section of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry was contacted to assist to see how the fire could be contained.

He said this was to prevent it from spreading to the surrounding environment.

The NOSDRA director-general said all stakeholders have deployed their contingency plan to forestall a spread of the fire.

The D-G said the officers were still at the site to ensure that all that needed to be done would be done at the right time.

Musa said other companies not directly involved in the sector had also provided supplies to help contain the fire.

“So, all resources were pulled together to avert what would have been a national disaster.”

The director-general said the agency was working with a local company which had the capacity to assist with such oil spills in the country.

He, however, pointed out that depending on foreign-based companies or neighbouring countries for assistance might affect the time-frame of containing the spill.